Modern communication systems allow consumers to maintain connectivity, regardless of their location. Many consumers are capable of utilizing different types of terminals (e.g., mobile phones, satellite phones, etc.) while traveling or moving through different geographic locations. Satellite communication systems are at least one type of communication system which facilitate such mobility to consumers. As the number of consumers and desired content increases, it also becomes necessary to monitor system status in order to maintain appropriate quality of service.
Communication systems, such as satellite communication systems, are extremely complicated and incorporate a large number of subsystems which must be properly integrated for proper functionality. Such systems can include multiple beams and multiple terminals operating within the beams. The system typically provides individual link quality metrics for each terminal, including energy per symbol to noise power spectral density ratio (Es/No) and transmit power. In order to quickly assess overall system status, it is necessary to obtain, observe, and analyze various operational metrics associated with key systems and subsystems.
Conventional system monitoring typically requires data collection from various systems/terminals and off-line analysis thereof. Oftentimes, however, results of the data analysis are obtained after certain problems have persisted over extended periods of time. Furthermore, the communication system may experience intermittent and/or temporal complications that occur at various points during the day. Although such complications can severely affect the overall system functionality, they cannot be easily observed and/or addressed through offline analysis. Furthermore, such complications can affect subscriber communication and result in dissatisfaction.
While a system operator can examine the link quality metrics of components such as individual terminals, it is useful to obtain and examine beam metrics which encompass more than one terminal in a beam. These beam metrics can be hierarchical in nature, and range from a metric which comprises all terminals of one type on a single carrier in a beam, to a metric which comprises all terminals of different types in a beam. Such metrics can be used to assess link quality in a beam in real-time, and dynamically modify various parameters to improve and/or optimize system performance.